Sunscreen For The Hair!

Most of us are fairly well informed about skin cancer and the positives effects about using sunscreen. No sunburns, less chance for skin cancer, skin spots, freckles, damage, and etc.

What about your hair? Oprah Winfrey made the comment that the best invention of our previous century was haircolor, and I completely agree with her! Adjusting someone's haircolor can create such an awesome, creative change. It makes you feel better about yourself and sometimes it helps you even grow your hair out, because while it takes months for length to happen, if you want change, adding highlights or an overall different color still allows you to have fun in the moment.

It is important though to protect the hair from the sun, colored or not. Aveda has come out with this AMAZING product, which we cannot even seem to keep on the shelves, it's so awesome.

Aveda's Sun Care Hair Veil:



I spray it throughout the hair before I blowdry or allow the hair to airdry. Then before I go out swimming or even just out for the day, I'll spray it again, just for some extra protection. It's perfect for kids, women, and men too.

Stop Washing Your Hair Every Day!!!

Every other day. Every 2 days. Twice a week. As long as possible in-between. Period. Simple. Follow it!!!

Issue: "I have an oily scalp."
Answer: No, your scalp is used to you washing it every single day. So it produces oil because it knows you're going to remove it within 24 hours. Experiment for me, from the last time you washed it, go 36 hours (a day and a half, so Monday morning to Tuesday night). Then another 36hours (Tuesday evening to Thursday morning). And then try to go 48 (Saturday morning). The next week your scalp should have adjusted and you won't feel as 'greasy'.

Issue: "It looks greasy."
Answer: No one pays that much attention, trust me. People are so involved in themselves, they will rarely notice that you didn't wear matching socks, let alone wash your hair.

Issue: "It won't do anything unless I wash it. I can't get volume."
Answer: Please, shower. Allow the water to touch your hair and then...DON'T WASH IT! Just because your hair gets wet does NOT mean it has to be washed. When you get out of the shower, put your root booster in again (Volumizing Tonic works great!). Blast it with heat, because it's heat activated. You shall be beautiful with plenty of volume!

Issue: "I have fine hair."
Answer: Okay, fine greasy hair....I can try to get you to go MAYBE 36 hours...but even that's pushing it. Usually women and men with fine hair / oily scalp need to wash everyday. But washing with the right type of shampoo can improve HOW your hair looks. I love our volumizing shampoo and conditioner, Pure Abundance. You need a shampoo that cleanses thoroughly, to relieve buildup and then a conditioner that will help to plump up each hairstrand.

And it equals SAVING....

TIME - PRODUCTS - MONEY - LESS THERMAL STYLING = LESS DAMAGE!

Great and wonderful news for everyone.

(For the record, when I was in high school, I SWORE that my hair was super oily/greasy. I washed it every single day, sometimes TWICE a day and made it "squeaky" clean, literally. Note: if your hair ever does 'squeak' after washing it, you're using a very VERY astrigent shampoo that's harmful on your hair. STOP! Anyways...now, it's about twice a week. And really, I FULLY wash it once, and then wash my bangs and my crown and let the shampoo just 'slide' through the rest. I probably condition 4 or 5 days a week though. Start the conditioner at your ends and work it up through. We need to moisturize those poor ends that don't get to suck up the oil your scalp produces!)

I Can't Figure Out What To Do With My Hair!!!

The other day my friend had an event to go to around 11AM. I usually work this day at 12PM so there was going to be no salon time to get her hair done beforehand. She was complaining to me that she just didn't know what to do, she either wears it down or wears it in a ponytail. I asked her what she was trying to do, and she just wanted something 'different'. So I suggested just doing it half up / half down, with a little bump in the back for some height. She looked at me as though I was speaking Chinese. "I don't know how to do that; that's why I pay to get my hair done."

I think I looked at her like she was crazy. It sometimes astounds me to what extent some women don't know how to do their hair, but I suppose it is like everything...I suck at video games. Mario is about my limit with that, and I really just cannot wrap my mind around why and how you can play a game for hours on end. Yet, people can't understand how to just pin, curl, and twist to make a style.

I guess it just takes some PRACTICE!

Plain and simple. When you're at the grocery store, just pick up a hair magazine. Don't go through and look at those horrible haircuts though (we'll discuss that later) and color, but just look at the different styling techniques. Imagine how the stylist accomplished that look. You can also just 'people watch'. Now that is different than STARING at people, but I'm constantly looking at hair. Partly because it's what I do, but partly because I like getting new ideas and possibly learning something.

Some tools you will need to practice and experiment:

a blowdryer
a flat iron
a curling iron, unless you're able to do 'flat iron curls' (hard without a LOT of practice, trust me)
a comb
a brush
bobby pins
pony tail holders
a mirror to look into
a mirror to hold to look at the back of your hair (VERY IMPORTANT)
thermal protect/hairspray (some products are both, Aveda's Brilliant Hairspray for example)
TIME

It's easiest to work with the hair once it's dry and honestly, if you want it really smooth, you need to blow it out if your hair has some curl/frizz to it. Otherwise then you HAVE to use a flat iron, and then you still can't always get it as smooth. Then decide if you want to leave it down, put it all up or just partly up. Try to accentuate your best feature. If you have a great neck, pull it up a little bit, if you have great eyes, try to not let your hair fall over them! No one is perfect but we can sure hide what we aren't as happy about.

Bobby pins or little pony tail holders are really amazing, especially for summer and trying to get hair up without just having a boring pony tail. I will usually pull up the top part of the hair and secure it with a decorated clip or bobby pins and form a little bit of a 'poof' or bump for some volume (increases length in your face, causing it to look thinner, what woman DOESN'T want that?!) then I will pull the rest up as well either by twisting it or pull it into a pony and then hiding the holder by arranging the hair with pins.

One last thing: it does NOT have to look absolutely perfect! Every single hair does NOT have to be in place, every single bump smoothed down! No no no! That is boring and it makes it look as though you worked harder than you did. A few 'different' spot in the hair adds texture and creativitiy. As long as you're confident and can rock it, that's all that matters. So hold that creative head up and walk tall!

Sun Protection Is Needed

Tourmaline Charged Protecting Lotion, SPF 15



This is my most used product for skin care. It goes on my face every day before I put makeup on, my neck, my upper chest, because I do NOT want those age lines. And also, my hands. No one ever thinks about protecting your hands, but your hands show how old you are, so protect them with some sunscreen too!

Aveda says this about it:

Pure plant extracts plus tourmaline—an energizing mineral—infuse your skin with visible radiance. This light, oil-free formula rebuilds skin's moisture barrier while shielding from sun and other environmental assaults. So your skin looks and feels healthier and more radiant.

Amazing, pure and simple. And necessary for everyday not just in the summer!

Color Correcting With Foiling

Alright...so her hair wasn't THIS bad. I've actually never had anyone come in with this bad of hair, thank goodness! Every day is definitely different in my world and I'm always thankful when I can make someone's day and help their hair out at the same time.

It's strange how when I meet someone new, I can usually determine whether or not they had their hair done at the salon previously or not. As stylists, we have to go through such an extensive assistance program and our color is a step above anything I've ever used before. So when I see something different, I can usually identify it with not being Aveda color or Ihloff's work, usually. Mistakes happen and no one is perfect, but on average.

My poor girl though....she was so sweet. The last stylist hadn't lifted her hair to a high enough level, so it was very much stuck in the 'orange' zone. They had tried to tone it, but she mentioned that it washed out after just a few days. Golden orange looks good on very few....perhaps monkeys or clowns? That's about it and even that's not beautiful in all parts of the world.

So....she was down for a foil and I told her that I couldn't promise that we would be able to get rid of the orange. One thing that is very hard for people, guests and hairstyists even (!) to understand is that color does not lift color, at least not predictably. They may be some product out there, under some lens that I have not seen, but the plants have not given us this higher power yet! (Aveda's color is 97-99% naturally derived from plants). So, the only thing to do with orange hair color is to lift it out or darken it up. We did both! A couple blonds, a darker brown, all woven and sliced to a different pattern....a little toner at the end for a last attempt to tone down the previous brassy color, and to the chair for a trim.

I hate hate HATE cutting people's hair off if they want long hair. Personally, I've wanted long hair all my life and I've finally figured out the secret. Stop cutting it! But there does come a point that if it's damaged it needs to come off. But I still feel bad and will send you home with an intensive conditioner or have you come in for a hairspa treatment first. We'll try to repair what we can, and then the rest can be cut. Sometimes not everything can be saved, but overtime, we will prevail!

Oh, my foiling operation lady did make me smile with one of her comments. She is a working mother of 2. She and her husband are trying to take over the family business and she was literally falling asleep while I was foiling her hair because she was so exhausted...too cute. But my 'sweet personality' made her feel relaxed. I told her that she doesn't want to come on Saturdays then, because then it's super busy. She made my night though, being able to make someone else feel better, that's what it's all about anyway.